Help Bring Abort73 to Atlanta

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine from the Atlanta area asked if I'd ever given any thought to billboard advertising. I told him I had but that it had yet to get beyond the thought stage. I forwarded him a link to the Lamar website, and a few days later, he had a content-approved quote for a digital billboard, north of Atlanta on I-75 – and an offer to spearhead the fundraising effort. Isn't it remarkable what a little outside energy can accomplish!

And though my friend has claimed responsibility for raising the $800 necessary for this grand experiment, I want to at least invite our supporters from the Atlanta area to join the cause – while urging everyone else to consider supporting similar projects in their area (assuming this one proves successful). To that end, I've added a drop-down menu to our online donation page which allows you to specify where your donation goes.

After a fair bit of deliberation, this is the design we've landed on.

And here's why I feel this design gives us the most bang for our buck:

The GUNS design is by far the most provocative graphic we have. It turns heads on shirts and I trust it will turn heads in traffic. And because of the relative width of the billboard, it gives us a perfect opportunity to pair the GUNS graphic with a picture of a GUNS shirt. This accomplishes a number of things. First, it gives personality and credibility to the message. It's long been an advertising maxim that people are drawn to the human face. Second, since we're trying to pique viewer's curiosity, I like the subtle dissonance between a harsh slogan and a pretty face. Third, having a young, female model combats the stereotype that opposition to abortion is driven by aging, anti-women men. Finally, having a shirt on the billboard lets people know that this same message exists on shirts that they can buy and wear themselves. Not only does it invite people to immediate involvement, but it also opens the door to a more financially-sustainable advertising model. If some of the cost of the billboard can be offset through increased regional shirt sales, then that's less money that needs to be raised through donations. Win, win.

Having said all that, it's still entirely possible that this advertising endeavor will be a flop. But here's the good news. If it is a flop, we'll know it. Because of the increased advances in web analytics, I'll be able to monitor regional web traffic (and regional shirt sales) before, during, and after the campaign to see what kind of influence it actually has. If it proves successful, we'll look to expand the billboards into other markets. If it doesn't, we can turn our energies to something else. And one of the great things about digital billboards is that it cuts the cost of month-long advertising almost in half by eliminating the hefty up-front cost of printing a billboard that size.

To help get this billboard off the ground, donate here, and come back to the blog to check our progress. I'll post periodic updates in the comments section.

 Thanks so much!

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